


What's the Opposite (of a Fairytale Ending)

by seemeeimbeebee



Category: House M.D.
Genre: Gen, House/Cameron if you squint, Wilson/Cameron friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-21
Updated: 2016-02-21
Packaged: 2018-05-22 08:45:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6072718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seemeeimbeebee/pseuds/seemeeimbeebee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pretending to have cancer when one of your fellows had a husband who died of cancer is kind of a really shitty thing to do. Luckily, Wilson's a good friend to people other than House and House isn't always an unrepentant ass (even if he likes to pretend he is). [Post 3x15 "Half-Wit".]</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's the Opposite (of a Fairytale Ending)

**Author's Note:**

> I just started watching House and I was thinking about how upsetting it must've been for Cameron to think House was dying of cancer after her husband died. So this is a fic about that. I hope you enjoy! It's my first House fic and I'm kind of nervous.

“Wilson?” Cameron asked quietly. “Are you…do you…” She cleared her throat. “Do you think I could just write up files for you or something in here? I don’t want to be on House’s service today. I don’t think I can.”  
He took note of her red-rimmed eyes, and the way she seemed to be holding herself.

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “Sure. Stay here for the day. I’ll make myself known in other places so he doesn’t come over this way.”

“He’ll come this way anyway, just wanting to know why I’m hiding from him,” she sighed. “And then I’ll get a lecture and it’s just…I want to do what I can.”

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” she replied.

“That is not the sigh of someone who is okay. And, admittedly, while no sane person really wants to work for that long for House, you seem…I don’t know. More run down and annoyed by House than usual.” Cameron opened her mouth to object, when Wilson last, “I’m his best friend. I understand.”

“I just…his lie and my husband’s death date…kind of came at a bad time and I don’t…I can’t look at him.” Cameron tried to smile at Wilson but it fell flat. “I’m hiding and sulking. And I know I am. But I just can’t. Not today. If he really needs me and it’s really urgent, then of course I’ll put everything down. But I just…not today.”

“Okay,” Wilson said quietly, mentally cursing himself because he’d forgotten about her dead husband. “Yeah, I, uhh, I’ve got some files here that you can fill out. You want to talk about it?”

“Not with you,” Cameron said with a little shrug. “And I don’t know if I want to talk or…yell.”

“Both are okay,” he reminded her, getting up from his desk so that she could have a place to effectively hide.

“Are you going to tell Cuddy?” she asked, once she sat down. “I don’t want her to judge me. I should be able to stand up to him by now and I do—”

He raised his hand to stop her. “Somehow, I think she’ll understand,” Wilson said sympathetically.

\--

Wilson’s next stop was Cuddy’s office. “Hi, Cameron has requested to be on service today because she wants to be away from House,” he said without any preamble.

“Is he harassing her?” Cuddy asked with a frown. “Do I have to send him to another seminar?” She stood up, starting to dial the phone.

“No, this is about the whole…him not actually having cancer thing,” he replied lamely.

“Well I know Cameron’s got a strict moral compass but still--”

“There was a death in her family. From cancer,” Wilson explained awkwardly, rocking back and forth on his heels. “And the anniversary of the death…judging by the redness around her eyes this morning? I’d say it was either yesterday or today.”

“Does she want to go home?” The older woman looked ready to send Cameron home at any minute. “Should we send her in for a consult or something?”

“I think she just wants to work today. I’ve got her doing some organizational stuff,” he replied, starting to head out.

“You’ve got a woman doing clerical work for you?” Cuddy called after him. “Do I have to send you to a seminar too? Because I think House is starting to rub off on you.”

Wilson chuckled lowly as he kept walking.

\--

He didn’t go back to his office after Cuddy’s, not at first. Instead, he stormed straight to House’s.

“You’re an ass,” Wilson said, when he came in through House’s door. No one else was in the room yet. “It’s one thing to jerk me around, and make me think you’re dying of cancer. It’s another thing to do it to your team.”

“Self-sacrificing doesn’t look good on you,” House replied wryly, quirking an eyebrow at him. “What makes you say that?”

“Because I will stay. I will be the one that rolls my eyes but puts up with it because we are friends and I’m going to abandon you. But do not push out the other people in your life who borderline care about you because you will push them away,” Wilson growled out.

“Your team, House, as much as you’re annoyed and infuriated by them? They care about you. And that’s probably the most baffling thing about it. They work themselves up into a tizzy trying to figure out what was wrong with you, only to be more relieved in their whole lives that you’re okay, and for you to tell them that you faked it?”

Wilson was clearly in the midst of a self-righteous rant and House quirked an eyebrow at him, waiting for his friend to finish.

“And I think,” Wilson continued, starting to pace. “I think what the worst part of this is? Is that in about ten minutes, Foreman and Chase are going to walk through this door like there’s nothing wrong. That you did nothing wrong and that everything’s just fine. Like you didn’t jerk them around and make them think that you were dying. It’s just ‘House being House’.”

“I notice you left Cameron out of that particularly intense rant,” House said, choosing to ignore nearly everything else about Wilson’s speech.

“What?” Wilson asked flatly.

“You said, ‘In about ten minutes, Foreman and Chase are going to walk through this door’. Last I checked, I had three members of my team,” House said. “Which means, you know something about my ugly duckling.” He stood up and leaned against his cane, successfully suppressing the flare of worry that moved up in his gut. “What’s wrong with Cameron?”

“If you don’t know, I’m not going to tell you,” Wilson replied. “Because I guarantee you Chase and Foreman don’t know, and then you’re going to have to actually talk to her about it. And then what are you gonna do?” He turned out and walked away.

“Where are you going?” House called after him.

“To treat patients, you should try it sometime!” Wilson yelled.

\--

“Did you sanction Cameron not being on my service today?” House demanded, barging into Cuddy’s office.

“Yep,” Cuddy said, not looking up from her computer.

“Are you going to tell me why you approved such a ridiculous and childish request?”

“Nope.”

“Do you know where she is?”

“Probably Wilson’s office."

Right. So why wasn’t he going there just yet?

\--  
In the end, he didn’t go talk to her until the end of the day. She needed space and he felt like three was a good reason for him to feel chastised, even if he’d never admit it out loud.

“Ah, there’s my ugly duckling,” House remarked wryly as he walked into Wilson’s office. “I heard you’re hiding from the Big Bad Wolf today.”

“You just used two fairytale references in the same sentence, and they weren’t even the same fairytale,” Cameron said quietly, not looking up from the file. “But yeah. I’m here because I didn’t want to talk to you or look at you to see you. You being here kind of defeats that purpose so. Bye.”

“I think my ugly duckling might be turning into a beautiful swan after all. An aggressive, hissy, will probably rip into me with her razor sharp teeth swan,” he chuckled as he stepped in closer. She looked up at him, her eyes flashing. “Just say what you have to say. You’ll feel better.”

“You wouldn’t care,” Cameron said icily, looking back down, pressing her pen harder to the paper.

“Tearing a hole in Wilson’s charts won’t help you,” House shot back. She didn’t respond. He tried a different tactic. “You know, I thought you were past this. This behavior is just like you when you first got here. I was starting to think you’d grown up. But I’m disappointed in you.”

“Right, because this is my fault,” she laughed hollowly, and the sound unsettled him. He frowned. “You were the first person I told about him, you know? And of course you would be the person that would pretend to have cancer…” Her voice caught and she put the pen down. She clenched her jaw firmly.

“And between letting the old doctor die, and you thinking I was dying,” House started. “You didn’t want me to be the second person you loved who died of cancer.” She nodded and didn’t bother to correct him, he noticed. Something inside of him curled with delight at the knowledge.

“And when you got shot, I thought I was going to lose you then too,” she added lowly. “I know you’d do a lot of things, and I knew I’d be hurt by you a lot of different ways when I worked here. That's why I'm hitting up Cuddy for hazard pay. I just never thought it’d be like that.”

“How much did you sleep last night?” House rumbled, taking in the pure exhaustion in her features.

“Not much. Spent most of the night wondering how long it was going to be before I had to stand in front of a grave again,” she whispered. Cameron rubbed her eyes weakly. She wasn’t going to cry in front of House. Not today. Not this time. “I’m so angry with you. Part of me wants to hit you. Or scream at you. But I can’t. I’m just sitting here and stewing in this.”

They were both quiet for a few minutes before House broke the silence. “C’mon, I’ll take you home. You need to rest,” he said quietly. “You need to sleep for real before you come back to work for me tomorrow. And remind yourself that I’m a miserable, old bastard and I’ll probably be around to haunt your ass and make you miserable for a long time.”

Cameron cracked a smile. “I can drive myself home.”

“Nope,” House said. “If you drive off the road, who is going to make my coffee? And who else am I going to teach about having conversations like an adult?” He raised his eyebrow at her and grinned triumphantly when he saw her shoulders shake with laughter. “Now put that file down and let’s get you into your apartment. I’ll let you ride on the bike again.”

Cameron smiled gently. “So you do care,” she said quietly, offering him a little grin.

“Nah, I’m still an ass,” House replied, nudging his hip against hers.

But he still held the door open for her.

"Wait, you're getting hazard pay from Cuddy? Can I get in on that?

She laughed brightly, a sound that rang out and caused him to grin.


End file.
